Penn State Exception to Open Records Law

If Spanier hadn't successfully lobbied to keep Penn State's exception to the Pennsylvania Open Records Law, the abuse *might* have been caught earlier.

How is an exception like this even legal?

From CNN:

While every other commonwealth agency is subject to Pennsylvania's open records law, Penn State is exempt, making it difficult to get information about who knew what and when regarding the sex abuse claims.

Penn State, along with three other schools that receive state funds, don't fall under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, according to Terry Mutchler, the executive director of the state's Office of Open Records.
"If this were an investigation involving another university ... that did have a scandal at its doorstep, they were subject to the Right to Know Law," Mutchler told CNN.

"You were able to obtain, in that situation, e-mails, copies of incident reports at the police department, any kind of policies that came out with the Board of Trustees. That would all be available," she said. "At Penn State, however, that's off limits."

In 2007, state lawmakers considered a change that would have included the school under the open records law. But Spanier testified against the move before the House State Government Committee.

There are a few public universities that get past the open records law by having the athletic department open a private company (paid for by boosters) and they channel their communication that way.

When I covered one such school, I would get pissed that I would get next to nothing back when I would make a FOIA request. They would give me contracts and the obvious stuff, but if you asked for any communication between the AD and one of the coaches, there would be nothing other than garbage email. Then one of the SIDs told me how they do it, that they have an official email that nobody uses and then another one that is protected from FOIA stuff.

I found out over the years that while not common, it's not totally uncommon these days.

There are a few public universities that get past the open records law by having the athletic department open a private company (paid for by boosters) and they channel their communication that way.

When I covered one such school, I would get pissed that I would get next to nothing back when I would make a FOIA request. They would give me contracts and the obvious stuff, but if you asked for any communication between the AD and one of the coaches, there would be nothing other than garbage email. Then one of the SIDs told me how they do it, that they have an official email that nobody uses and then another one that is protected from FOIA stuff.

I found out over the years that while not common, it's not totally uncommon these days.

Click to expand...

if you remember even contracts at PSU were a problem. One paper - the Post-Gazette maybe? - had to go to court to get access to Paterno's contract a few years ago.

Pa. open records laws are arcane.
as you said a lot of colleges pull this same kind of shit. It's not just localized to PSU or Pa.
WVU officials tried the same shit with the Bresch degree scandal was breaking.

There are a few public universities that get past the open records law by having the athletic department open a private company (paid for by boosters) and they channel their communication that way.

When I covered one such school, I would get pissed that I would get next to nothing back when I would make a FOIA request. They would give me contracts and the obvious stuff, but if you asked for any communication between the AD and one of the coaches, there would be nothing other than garbage email. Then one of the SIDs told me how they do it, that they have an official email that nobody uses and then another one that is protected from FOIA stuff.

I found out over the years that while not common, it's not totally uncommon these days.

Click to expand...

if you remember even contracts at PSU were a problem. One paper - the Post-Gazette maybe? - had to go to court to get access to Paterno's contract a few years ago.

Pa. open records laws are arcane.
as you said a lot of colleges pull this same kind of shit. It's not just localized to PSU or Pa.
WVU officials tried the same shit with the Bresch degree scandal was breaking.

Click to expand...

When governments do "business" they do not like it scrutinized.

I once tried to get the naming rights contracts for various stadiums and arenas around the country. In some case it was easy. In most, it was not. Some forked 'em over if you were persistent. Others would not.

They set up Authorities to own the arenas and stadiums, and try to exempt them. It's crap.